Preview of September 21 Morgan County Football Games
Coalfield at Marion County
By Greg Addington
Coalfield kicks off the second half of their 2018 schedule on Friday night down in Jasper facing Marion County. The Warriors are looking to bounce back from what has been a disappointing season thus far, having been outscored 96-13 in their last two games (both on the road against their hated rival South Pittsburg and last week against Chattanooga Tyner).
Meanwhile Coach Keith Henry’s Yellow Jackets have bounced back very nicely from their home opening setback against York by taking the last three games with region 2-A victories coming against Harriman, Sunbright and Oakdale.
The Warriors are led on offense by senior quarterback Isaiah Sampson, running backs Josh Phillips and Alex Nunez and receivers Robbie Dykes and Reece Barton. Offensively, the Warriors run the spread and on the defensive side of the ball, fans will see Marion County line up in a base 4-3 most of the time. Sampson especially had a difficult time last week finding time to throw the ball and running backs struggled to advance the football. Tyner had a lot of success in getting into the Warrior backfield and disrupting Marion County’s offense. One thing to keep an eye on, the Warriors blocked three Tyner extra points up the middle last week.
Coalfield will likely run into a Marion County team frustrated about the lack of results on the field and eager to atone for what has been a subpar year for Warrior fans. The Jackets will need to bring their “A game” on the road with them down to Jasper.
Kickoff at Marion County High’s Bill Baxter Stadium will be at 8pm Eastern, 7pm Central time on Friday night.
Sunbright vs Wartburg
By Terry Futrell
After surviving the toughest part of their schedule, the Sunbright Tigers face rival Wartburg at home this week. While the Tigers are winless and Wartburg has won only one game, both teams have shown significant progress. This promises to be a very competitive game.
In last week’s game with a talented Harriman team, the Tigers with quarterback John Wayne Freels at the helm proved they could move the ball and quickly took the lead. Sunbright played nose-to-nose with the Blue Devils for the first half and trailed by 13-6 going into intermission. The Tigers could not sustain their momentum through the second half and eventually lost 49-6.
Until their most recent game with Oakdale, Wartburg had experienced the same problem of not being able to play consistently for four quarters. But, against the Eagles, Wartburg was finally successful in playing a complete game, scoring 29 points in the third quarter. The Bulldogs have achieved much greater balance between running and passing the ball and have a potent offense.
Wartburg has played without the services of quarterback Tyler Davis, who was injured in a pre-season scrimmage. In the meantime, running back/wide receiver Josh Moore has been filling in at quarterback. Davis will be dressed out for the Sunbright game, though it remains to be seen whether and how much he will play. Davis’ presence and passing ability gives the Bulldogs far more options on offense and allows the Bulldogs to maximize use of Moore’s running and receiving abilities. The Sunbright Tigers find themselves having to prepare defensively for either Moore or Davis at quarterback.
The cross-county rivalry game will give both Sunbright and Wartburg an opportunity to prove themselves and will be key to a successful season for both.
Kickoff is at 7:30 PM at Sunbright.
The Oakdale Eagles have an open date.